Here We Go Again

Another year down, another under our belts (well, if you wear a belt). As per tradition that I've kinda started myself on here, I'll give you a recap of our year, as well as hopes, goals, and "predictions" for next year.

1. I looked back at last year's post and saw I had put kind of a cryptic message for #7 about good news that I wasn't allowed to share yet and I had meant to go back and update, but never did. The good news had been that we had found out at Christmas last year that two of my sisters-in-law were pregnant and due about a month apart.
2. We had found out in the spring that we were pregnant with our second child. Sadly, after some complications, we lost our little one at only about eight weeks, only days after we had made the public announcement.
3. The same day that this happened, mom got the call in the morning that her father, my grandfather, had passed away. He was a great man. I remember him reading the book "Rosie's Walk" to me a time or two at his house, and also taking my brothers and I fishing down at the river on mom and dad's property.
4. One last sad note from this past year (they always happen in threes) was when a long-time family friend and dad's old boss and best friend passed away suddenly. Mr. Jenkins was dearly loved, not just by his own family, but our family as well (and I'm sure just about the whole community).
5. Jake turned three, which come to find out, has been thus far a somewhat sassier age than two. (*Sigh*) He is now afraid of the dark, but has discovered he likes holidays, mainly Halloween and Christmas. He is also almost fully potty-trained (Yay!).
6. My two sisters-in-law gave birth to their girls only days apart in July. Emory Catherine Miller was born to Eric and Anna. Kaedynz James Miller was born to Steve and Anna.
7. Due to the Miller side's...um...fertility, mom and dad had a new, much larger room built onto their house. We tested it out fully at Christmas this year and have found it barely efficient. ;-)
8. Speaking of fertility, Jimmy and Kristen announced that they are expecting! Their baby girl (yes, that means that all of my brothers have sired girls) is due late spring.
9. Mike and I discovered that, after the sadness in the spring, we are now pregnant again and due late spring of next year...only days after Kristen! We find out this Monday what we're having (yeah, yeah...we're having a baby).
10. Mike quit his job at AeroJet and accepted a job at Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange. Thus far it's going well. The hours are better, as are the benefits.

I think that's the most of the big news from the past year. As for the coming year, Lord willing:

1. I always put the usual cliche "lose weight." Well, this time technically it'll be true, as I will hopefully give birth to a healthy baby come spring.
2. We'll also welcome Kristen and Jimmy's new baby.
3. By some miracle build a new (bigger!) house? (*Sigh*)
4. Jake will be FULLY potty-trained.
5. Mike will start official training for the jail. He's already had the basic, but in the spring he's got to go to Fredricksburg for more extensive training.

That's about it. I hope everyone has a blessed and happy new year!

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up

Why is parenting so hard? Okay, I take that back. To tell you the truth, parenting isn't overall hard. It's the punishment part that sucks. For both you and the kid. I'm sure my mother (and any other more "experienced" parent reading this) is laughing her butt off. Don't get me wrong; my 3-year-old son is AWESOME and I love him more than about anything. He is usually very good and polite and plays well, either by himself or with others. He'll go for days, weeks even, without any major problems. And then, out of nowhere, maybe just to keep me on my toes, BAM! Full-blown insubordination. This comes from what happened this morning. He was playing out in the hallway upstairs while I was getting dressed and ready for the day. I was finishing up and told him to clean up so we could go downstairs. He replied with, "Hold on," and kept on playing. I told him again. He cleaned up two things and went back to playing. Before you know it, I'm threatening spanking, taking away toys, and time out, all the while he's crying and screaming his head off at me and (over)dramatically throwing himself on the floor. I'm sorry if this upsets anyone, but I approve of spanking. However, I had already counted to three twice (with the consequence being three solid whacks on the behind), and we still hadn't gotten very far. So I put him in time out in his room (we don't do time out as often, though I've been using it a bit more lately, especially when spanking doesn't seem to faze him) to get him to calm down. It took a few minutes, but it finally worked and the noise level in our house went considerably down.
Here's where the hard part comes in. You'd think the screaming and yelling and theatrics would have been the hard part. No. For me the hard part is hearing the sniffling and quiet talking to himself afterwards, softly explaining to no one why he had told mommy to wait and that he had only wanted to play with his toys and would have cleaned up when he was done playing (who knows when that would have been).
I don't want to scare off new parents with this story. Honestly, as I said before, my son is normally a great kid and very helpful. But every so often, this...CREATURE...rears its head for about an hour tops (usually not so long, but this morning it must have been restless to show itself and was milking it for all it was worth). And then we go on normally, and enjoy moments like this... :-)

The Gift

Having opened our presents yesterday at our house for Christmas, I am able to get on Facebook and look through all the pictures and videos of friends and family enjoying their Christmas mornings this morning. The best part is seeing the joy on all the kids' faces.
I think of the joy that must have been on Mary and Joseph's faces upon finally meeting their Gift. No, this Gift was not just for them to enjoy, but the entire world. For the wealthy wise men. For the lowly shepherds. For the young. For the old. For the healthy. For the weak. There should be joy on everyone's face, as they have been given the original Gift of God's son, who was sent for our salvation. No, He's not the latest phone or video game console or character doll. He is so much better.

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:16-18)

Merry Christmas to all!